


Simulacrum

by matrixrefugee



Category: Castle
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-11-05 10:32:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17917061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/matrixrefugee/pseuds/matrixrefugee
Summary: Beckett examines a victim who's too fake to be credible.





	Simulacrum

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [Castle, any, laminites: (n.) Those strange people who show up in the photo sections of brand-new wallets.](http://fic-promptly.dreamwidth.org/107578.html?thread=5054778&format=light#cmt5054778). Warning: Written when I was heavily caffeinated.

The vic looked almost too perfect: the suit was freshly tailored and the creases in his pants hadn't had time to relax, the knot of his tie looked as if he'd just put it on, even his hair was freshly trimmed and pomaded. The only thing that was out of place were the knife wounds in his chest.

"Gotta be a time-traveling robot: he's too clean and tidy," Castle said, as Beckett checked the man's pockets. "There's not even any scuff-marks on the bottoms of his shoes."

"Or he just came out of the hotel across the street after getting up and getting dressed," she said, taking a wallet from the vic's breast pocket. She opened the billfold and took out the driver's license in a laminated panel on one flank. "Harold Burdett, Date of birth: December 5th, 1964. So the only time traveling he's done is forward and at the same pace as every other human being, Castle."

"Yeah, but look at this," Castle said, snatching the wallet from her fingers. He pointed to the section of clear plastic laminate petals tucked into the other flank of the billfold, where a generic picture of a man, a woman, a boy, a girl and a dog smiled blandly from the first leaf. "The laminites haven't been taken out yet."

"The what? Is that even a word?"

"Laminites, those strange people who show up in the photo sections of brand-new wallets," Castle said, tapping the filler picture. "You've seen 'em in a million picture frames and billfolds still on the shelves of a department store, haven't you?"

Beckett took a second look at the image. The man in the picture only looked vaguely like Burdett, while there was something too posed about the whole clan for it to be anything but a filler image. "There's gotta be another explanation, something that works in the real world."

"I'm sticking with mine: mine makes more sense."


End file.
